Heart Shaped Box
by srslyallison
Summary: This was just a problem neither Bones nor Adellia knew how to deal with. Sequel to Starlight.
1. She Had the World

**((A/N ohai c: this is the third bones/adie series. idk what else to call it. maybe i should figure out a name, no? teehee. so yeah. if you haven't read Alienation and Acceptance and Starlight, i recommend you do so this will all make sense. aside from references to the last two stories it's not a direct sequel, like there was no cliffhanger, but it would help to sort of make it seem like some of this isn't out of left field. i hope yall enjoy it c: i don't own anything to do with star trek, just adie. and the hats. c: enjoy! and please review on what you think!))**

There is something to be said about a simple relationship: it's simple. Even when you are running around the galaxy, being kidnapped, or having your body break down from radiation poisoning, at least this one thing was simple. Bones McCoy did not have a lot of simplicity in his life. His best friend was the reckless, young captain of one of the best ships to be found in the Federation, he was expected to treat over eight hundred people if need be by running the one and only sickbay, and the food wasn't even all that good on board the ship. Not to mention the limited supply of whisky.

Still, there was always the calming thought that one person in his life did not cause him to form an ulcer in his stomach. There was one person who didn't drive him to drink and pray he could have one cigarette, just one. She happened to be his second-in-command, and she happened to be one of his closest friends—and even a bit more than that. Dr. Adellia had arrived in his medical bay nearly one year ago, even if it did seem much longer than that. They saw each other through Romulan attacks and Cardassian kidnappings, and even all of that didn't seem to affect him too much in retrospect.

Bones was admittedly still just that much nervous about being with her. Even if he knew this to be untrue, he still couldn't help the nagging feeling that perhaps she deserved better. But as he watched her working one slow day in the U.S.S. Enterprise medical bay, he believed a little bit more that maybe this was something special. Maybe this was something for him to be happy about…being happy wasn't something he was good at, it was such a foreign concept, but she was helping. And for that he was eternally grateful.

The ship had been heading towards a far off, distant planet called Manon. Apparently, their mission was to head down there and give medical checks on the planet's geological observers currently stationed on this planet. Bones absolutely hated beaming down to bother people he hoped he never had to bother, and giving them a quick and unnecessary check-up. Then again, it was orders, and he was a doctor. Sometimes his job was inconvenient. Especially when he had to do it in space

Bones set down a clipboard as he glanced around, seeing Adellia trying to coax somebody to sit still for the tricorder. He smirked a little bit and approached her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Doctor, will you meet me in my office when you are complete with this examination?" he asked, smoothly.

"Certainly, Dr. McCoy," she replied, smirking.

It was no longer any kind of secret. Most everybody had heard about them, and neither of them seemed to mind anymore. Bones found that the more he cared about keeping this under wraps, the more Kirk teased him to no end about it. It was what it was—just like what Spock and Uhura had. Perhaps they had picked this philosophy from them, but it was a very logical philosophy, for lack of a better word. Since that, no one mumbled about them when they walked down the halls together, or enjoyed a snack in the galley. Everything was just fine how it was.

Bones made his way back to his office, and sat against his desk, yawning. His desk was a mess—his entire office was a mess. On his desk sat a computer, a chart, a picture of he and Adellia, and a silver flask. Not even Bones knew what was in his flask…and he didn't really care. He took a small sip from it and winced, glancing around as he rested against the desk. He thought about his happiness with Adellia, and this ship. Getting onto the ship was unbelievably irritating, but he had to admit, he was quite content with his job. He was quite content with his life. This scared the living daylights out of him.

It had been a long time since he was happy about his life. Too long, really. But he was content when his life was shit. When Sam left him, it was a shock, but Bones got used to the feeling of being miserable. When he was accepted into Starfleet, he found a few good friends, but he couldn't make himself be happy thanks to the constant stress and pressure of the school environment. Not to mention the flying. Even their missions hadn't helped with his stress level…it was normally off the charts.

But since his return from Cardassia, he'd been…happy. He didn't know what to do with a happy life, except live it, and wait for something awful to happen to him. He could almost feel it coming. He didn't want to believe it was going to happen, but something was telling him it was near. Those self-defeating thoughts were something he was trying to push down out of the forefront of his mind. Still, intuition was a beautiful thing sometimes, especially in a doctor's life. At least if something horrible happened, he would have the satisfaction of being right about something.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard his door open and close. He looked up and saw Adellia. Her skin was pale, giving her a slight greenish tint, thanks to her Vulcan heritage. She was tall…only a few inches below him. Her hair was sleek, straight, and black. It was almost always up in a ponytail thanks to the uniform, but he didn't mind. It looked nice either way. Her eyes were bright in spite of their dark color. As per usual, she wore a blue dress, signifying her inclusion in the Life Sciences department.

He took her in for a moment and smiled. She walked over to him, and he slipped her arms around her waist, kissing her lips gently as he closed his eyes. He deepened that kiss after ending the first one, no longer afraid of scaring her. His arms wrapped around her and brought her closer. They kissed for a moment longer, until Adellia finally pulled back, and grinned up at him. Her cheeks were tinted with green, which Bones thought was adorable. He pushed some of her bangs out of her eyes as she stood on her tip-toes, pecking him once more.

"Hello, Dr. McCoy," she mumbled, and she smiled a bit, putting her arms loosely around his neck. "You wanted to see me?" she asked, hoping against hopes that he hadn't just called her in there for that…she wouldn't put it past him, though. He'd been known to do worse things around the office, really.

"Yeah, I…I did," he said, coming out of a small fog, and he glanced down at her. "I know you don't usually like to eat dinner, but d'you think you could perhaps join me tonight, in the galley?" he asked with a twinkle in his blue eyes.

She narrowed her own eyes. He was up to something; she could feel it. "If this has anything to do with this…highly illogical pseudo-holiday…" she mumbled, gently, and she looked hesitant to continue. Adellia had been dreading this day for weeks, now, and finally it was here.

"Your birthday is worth celebrating, Adie," he reminded her, for about the fifteenth time. He'd heard of her being selfless and all, but what normal Earthling didn't like to celebrate her birthday? Then again, Adellia wasn't the most normal of Earthlings. "And so it will be celebrated. And there ain't a damn thing you can do about it. I'm even having the cook make you a little cake…everyone likes cake."

"I do enjoy cake…" she said, gently, not coming around just yet. "But it just seems silly that you are so intent on celebrating the Earth moving around the sun once more. A sun we don't even get to see anymore. That day was as insignificant as any other day to the general population, it just seems a little…silly."

"It's the principle of the thing, Adie! Come on. Let me make you feel special just this once," he pleaded, and she rolled her eyes. "Besides…I have a present for you."

"Leonard McCoy, I said no presents!"

"Does it look like I give a damn about what you said?" he asked, and smirked. Finally, the two of them let go of each other, and he bent down into his desk. He fished through countless pieces of papers, old electronics, and notes to himself. Adellia stood with her hands on her hips, looking a little bit gracious about his actions. He finally found what he was looking for. Bones stood back up and walked back with a small, rectangle box. The box was light blue with a white ribbon wrapped around it. On top was a bow, of course.

"Bones…" she mumbled, but now it was very difficult to concede and hide her grin. She looked back up to him, beaming a little bit. Her cheeks were now a much deeper shade of green. "You shouldn't have…" Adellia continued. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me till you open it," he said, proudly. Every good "significant other" (even she'd gotten him to say it like this) wanted to do the best he or she could on their partner's birthday…he'd always felt that way, anyway. It was the one day of the year he insisted on making it all about her, instead of his headaches or his flying troubles. And he thought he'd done right by her this year. He crossed his arms and looked down to her, smirking a little.

Adellia pulled off the ribbon smoothly and opened the box. She gasped; inside the little box was a necklace. The chain was small and silver. The actual necklace part was a small circle with white diamonds all around the outside. Inside was a blue diamond, sparkling like her eyes were at that moment. Her mouth hung open as her fingers touched it, and she couldn't help but smile brilliantly.

"It's beautiful…" she mumbled, and she pulled the necklace from the box. She put it on, and looked down at it, admiring it. "Leonard, thank you so much. I really appreciate it," she said, looking back up at him. This was the most she had ever received for her birthday…this was fantastic. Adellia was literally unsure of how to act, though she'd obviously chosen gratitude over just general shock.

He admired her, and nodded, smiling a little bit to himself. "It looks perfect on you. Welcome." He pecked her forehead. "Happy birthday." She grinned back up at him, and pecked his lips in response before turning her eyes back down to the necklace.

----

That evening, Adellia walked back from her quarters and towards the galley for this quiet birthday dinner. She was looking forward to the cake, she had to admit, but had her apprehensions about the actual dinner portion. Adellia was never sure what to do with any sort of congratulations or attention like this…it made her feel overly nervous. She didn't like the feeling of being vulnerable.

She was expecting this to be a quiet evening, full of light conversation and some doting from Bones. However, when she walked into the galley and turned the corner, she nearly had a heart attack or two. Bones, Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Scotty, Chekov, Scotty, and a few other people were all sitting around a rather large cake, and had just screamed "Surprise!" at the top of their lungs. She stumbled back and looked around, the green rushing to her cheeks again.

"Wow…" she said, catching her breath, and smiling as her eyes went as wide as dinner plates. All at once she felt beyond overwhelmed. They had gathered to celebrate her life. She glanced around, trying to wonder if this was all really fact, and she smiled when she realized it was. This was so beyond foreign to her…had Bones really convinced everybody to do this? She blushed on her cheeks, neck, and ears as she glanced around at everybody. She didn't feel worth it.

After a few moments of awkward silence, she nodded. "Thank you," she mumbled, unsure of what else to say. Bones got up and ushered her to the table, where Scotty placed a very unfortunate birthday hat on her head. Kirk snuck one onto Spock, who looked less than pleased about it, but kept it on at Uhura's urging to do so.

They stayed and ate, as long as most of them could. In the end, Spock was perhaps the last to stay. He had removed Scotty's ridiculous hat the moment Uhura left. Adellia was admiring a very nice makeup kit from Uhura, when he approached her, looking all business. He had his hands behind his back, and he nodded.

"I would like to wish you a very happy day of birth," he said, looking curiously down at her. Birthdays were, of course, foreign to him, and while he understood the practice, he didn't understand the reasoning behind it.

Adellia glanced up, and smiled very gently. "I appreciate that, Mr. Spock," she said, and she looked back down at the makeup kit, looking through it. "I am fascinated by this…I have never really used much makeup before. Please extend my appreciate to Uhura for this foreign concept." She smiled, but looked a little annoyed with the makeup.

"Perhaps she could teach you the ways of makeup? She seems to deal with it nearly every day, I suspect she knows a thing or two about makeup." He seemed to hate talking about makeup.

Adellia snickered a little. "Hopefully, Mr. Spock. I am curious about this substance." She looked back to him, and he walked away after giving her a respectful nod.

**((a/n YAY FIRST CHAPTER. hehe. btw, for the record, "Heart-Shaped Box" is a Nirvana song, and it's great and everyone should know it. also, i'm gonna try actually naming chapters which i fail at. so. wish me luck lmao.))**


	2. Everything

**((A/N thanks so much for the reviews! ugh i love them you have no clue. well here's chapter two c: i don't own star trek. i wish i did. good god man, how i wish i did. but i do own adie, which is already more than i can handle, lmao.))**

As much as Adellia enjoyed her small shindig in the galley, it was now time to get back to work. They would be arriving at the planet Manon in about an hour, so naturally she began to get ready while Bones was busy with some of the patients ahead of schedule. She rummaged through the supply closet, pushing things she normally like to keep in order out of the way to get what she needed. She had secured a belt around her waist already and was looking for anything and everything to fill it up with.

She finally found a hypospray canister, which she secured safely on her medical belt. She'd already packed a tricorder and some more primitive medical tools that would not go haywire from the planet's atmosphere. The concentrated metal in the planet's surface, and the lava that was constantly spurting from it, would definitely make most of their equipment malfunction. With a frustrated sigh she searched for an old butterfly needle to take a blood sample. It was times like these she was glad she took Ancient Medicine in Starfleet Academy—no other doctor besides she or Bones would have known what to do.

She looked down at all that she'd packed, and realized it had probably been enough. She walked out of the closet and glanced over to see Bones standing with a patient. Had he even packed up his equipment just yet? She strode up to him, tapping him on his shoulder. "Dr. McCoy, I have a small query. Would you like me to pack what is deemed necessary for this mission on the planet's surface for you?"

He turned around, looking a little distracted. "Uhh…yeah, if you could, please, that'd be nice. Wait, don't we have an hour until we get there?" he asked, finally snapping out of the doctor mode he'd put himself into and concentrating on the situation in front of him. He looked down at his watch to confirm this question and raised an eyebrow in her direction. She was an eager beaver, he noticed.

"Yes, sir, but I'd rather be prepared ahead of time," she replied, a little defensively. What was wrong with being ready in advance? Adellia glanced up at him, finding no problem keeping the irritation out of her eyes. For now. She put her hands behind her back, glancing up at him patiently. As patiently as she could.

"Well…yeah, but, don't you have patients that need checking up on? That can wait, come on, Adie…" he mumbled, and he turned back to the patient he was checking up on, going straight back into doctor mode. He felt bad sometimes that he was her superior and they had a relationship, but surely Adie would understand that, right? Right.

Adellia narrowed her eyes with a small sigh. She found herself getting a little angry at his sudden disregard for her promptness. He usually cherished that trait. She was the reason he was no longer late to…anything. What changed that this would be considered a negative? She turned away without another word, and continued to picking up a chart and going through the patients she had. She looked up and glanced at her patient with the allergic reaction.

She approached him, glancing at his chart, and she took the little tricorder from her belt. She waved it over him for a moment, frowning a bit at the results. "Your respiration has improved quite a bit." Her hands reached up and he felt around his throat, frowning. "I find no inflammation. It appears as if you will be ready to leave as soon as I process your papers—"

"Doctor?"

"Yes?" she asked, more sharply and coldly than she had originally intended. She blinked, and shook her head, trying to get a hold of herself, now. Adellia wet her lips and smiled, going into her own brand of "doctor mode" as soon as she possible could. Why had that upset her so much? Bones probably didn't even mean it personally, right? He was just her boss right now, and he was making a decision. It wasn't personal at all. "I apologize. Did you have a question?"

"Uhh…" he looked a bit too worried to cross her, now. "I was wondering if it was peanuts that caused the aniphyl…that."

"Anaphylactic shock," she said, trying to fake a warm disposition now despite the irritation in the back of her head. "And yes, I believe it was the peanuts. An allergy to peanuts is very common in the race of humans, but also incredibly dangerous. You must take extreme caution to avoid peanuts or peanut dust, lest your airways close up like they did before. I'm going to give you one more round of steroids in order to deal with the rash that has developed on your hands." Without another word, she took one from the drawer, and injected it into his neck.

He winced, and she smiled. "You are free to go, Cadet."

"Right, thanks…" he mumbled, and walked away, looking ill.

----

An hour and about three minutes later, Adellia stood next to the pad, her arms crossed. "I informed Dr. McCoy about the benefits of being on time," she mumbled, mostly to herself, but Scotty had taken up listening curiously. "But he insisted on going over patients who did not require his attention, not immediately anyway," she mumbled, and she looked back down to Scotty, who was kind of just shrugging.

"Maybe he had paperwork to do. Y'know, paperwork is a big thing when you're the senior officer in a department, especially on a ship like this—"

"I highly doubt he was troubled with paperwork, Mr. Scott," Adellia said with a tiny sighed. Her irritation was apparent for the first time, and he took to getting the transporter ready rather than have this conversation with her. For some reason, he imagined she would be scary when she was mad.

Bones walked into the room, smiling, and he kissed her lips. "Ready to go down to this hellhole of a planet?" he asked, and walked onto the pad, standing directly on one of the circles like he was supposed to.

Adellia swallowed some comments, and smiled a little bit, nodding. "Yes, as ready as I will ever be," she mumbled, and she stood on her own circle. "Energize," she said aloud, and stayed perfectly still, lest she leave one of her pointy ears behind.

The planet was very hot and humid, and there didn't seem to be a single plant around at all. The forceful breeze made it felt like a convection oven. They were beamed down onto a bridge leading to the observer's home. Underneath the bridge was bubbling lava, which also covered most of the planet. There was no water, and the air was quite thin. This seemed to choke Bones up a little bit, but thanks to Adellia's Vulcan lungs, she barely noticed a difference. Above them a burning star acted as a sun, though the planet hardly needed the heat source.

"I've heard these two can get a little testy, just to warn ya. They don't like to be poked or prodded. Most people don't, do they?" Bones said with a friendly smile towards her. He was in a relatively good mood for now, after all.

"I can hardly say that even I do. Hardly," Adellia replied with an impish smile up at him, and he snickered back. He didn't exactly expect her to say something like that, but…she could be unpredictable. Except, she was never unpredictable, what was he thinking? He sighed, shaking that off, and he knocked on the door, waiting impatiently.

After there was no answer for about a minute, he knocked again, and he heard Adellia letting out an impatient sigh next to him. He didn't blame her, though…he didn't think this would take two days to complete. When he was about to knock again, a man in his thirties answered the door. He was a tall man, with a couple days of growth on his chin, and a sweaty forehead.

He beamed. "Welcome! You must be the Starfleet…doctors." His expression failed when he noted they were not helpers, but doctor. "Why have they sent you to help us in observing this planet?" he asked, skeptically. He looked like he spent a lot of his time being skeptical, by the look in his eyes.

"We have been sent to give you an annual checkup, as ordered by Starfleet Command," Adellia said, her light and airy voice getting a little lost from a nearby explosion. She smiled up to him. "This procedure should not take but a moment of your time, Lieutenant Baker. If you would allow us to come in…" she mumbled, but thanks to her somewhat sunny disposition, he let them in.

"You know, I was hoping for some helpers. It's difficult to get things done when my partner doesn't speak a lick of English," he mumbled, and he rolled his eyes. He nodded over to the corner where a blonde haired, blue eyed woman. She was sitting at a table with gloves on, pouring a little bit of liquid into a Petri dish. "All she speaks is German. Gets hard, know what I mean?"

Bones laughed. "Yeah, I bet. Um…can you get her to come over here?" he asked, looking over to the woman. He forgot what he name was, Cadet Somethingorother. He'd assumed they had established some kind of communication at some point, so perhaps he could get her to understand medical equipment.

Baker walked up to the woman, and attempted to make hand symbols for doctors and pointing to Adellia and Bones. The German woman smiled, nodded, and got up, heading over to the two of them. She looked at both of them, and then offered her hand. "Tag! Wie geht's? Ich heiße Cadet Mueller," she said, and shook both of their hands quickly, pecking both cheeks of the two doctors, out of habit mostly.

Adellia pulled apart, forcing on a smile. The physical contact made her feel a bit awkward. "Hello, there. My name is Dr. Adellia. We have been sent here to give you an annual—yearly—check up, as Starfleet has ordered. Would you like to…" she sighed, her cheeks going green at the ridiculousness of hand signs while she was talking. "Accompany," as she said this, she pointed to another room. "me," she continued, and pointed to herself, and then to Mueller. "to have an exam?" she asked, and gave up miming an exam. There was too much touching involved.

Mueller grinned, and nodded, heading over to the exam room. Before Adellia followed, Bones pecked her on the cheek. "Good luck, darling. You'll be needing it, I bet."

----

Twenty minutes had passed, and both doctors were finished with the exams with their own patients. Bones was shaking hands with Baker as Adellia was listening with a mildly interested expression as Mueller talked quickly in a language Adellia did not understand, nor did she care to. The exam for her had been gruesome, really…Mueller would yip at an unexpected prick or poke, leaving Adellia very exasperated and overwhelmed.

The four of them exchanged farewells, and the two doctors finally walked out. "As much as I enjoy my job…" Adellia began, and she rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Sometimes I wonder why I signed up to be a Starfleet doctor. Dealing with that was quite difficult, I must admit. The language barrier was excruciating, in every way, shape, or form." Even through her cool, even tone, Bones couldn't help but notice how dramatic she was being.

Bones shrugged. "I dunno. At least you got to hear something interesting—Baker just sort of bitched about his lack of camaraderie. At least she was…" he began, about to talk about her looks. Mueller had been a looker. He caught himself, though. "…a ray of sunshine," he finished, and he grinned down at her. Something about her testiness warned him not to mention his little slip-up.

Adellia sighed. "I wish you would not try to have a 'Who's Worst Off' contest with me at this moment, Leonard. It is very irritating." She admitted to feeling something like this? Blasphemy.

Bones frowned, but he gulped down the many sarcastic comments that crept up in his mind. "Sorry," he simply said, and he opened his communicator. It was best to leave that alone, he figured. "Hey, Scotty, we're done. Beam us back up," he mumbled, and he shut it, staying perfectly still. He stayed perfectly still for about a minute. Bones and Adellia exchanged a look, and Bones took his communicator back out. "McCoy to Enterprise, our mission is complete."

"Aye, I got that…" came Scotty's nervous voice from the other end. He sounded busy and slightly frantic on the other line.

"Then please beam us back up," Adellia said, coolly, in spite of the look in her eyes. "Please."

"I'd love nothing more than to do that, lass, but at the moment…we seem to be under some sort of attack. Transporter abilities are temporarily offline, but I have people looking at it for the moment…"

"Attack?" both Bones and Adellia questioned at the same time.

"Aye, an attack. Sort of. The ship's just sort of not letting us pass, and communications are really limiti—" he was cut off after that, and the communicator was just emitting a gentle, annoying static noise.

Bones glanced over to Adellia, who was staring forward. "Sounds like they went offline. We couldn't have been stuck on a balmy seventy-degree planet, could we" he asked, and he rolled his eyes. Bones was now beyond irritated. What was going on up there? Who was keeping them sitting in space, and no doubt threatening them? Above all else, how was the medical bay holding up without them?

Adellia frowned forward, and kicked a rather large rock than even Bones himself couldn't have kicked without breaking a toe. The rock fell into the small lava pool, and she wrinkled her nose. "Wonderful. This is simply brilliant. I am stuck on boiling planet with nowhere to go but underground, eventually," she spat, and looked up to him. "Well, we should probably find shelter. I would imagine Baker and the articulate Cadet Mueller would be more than happy to oblige, wouldn't you?" she asked, almost sarcastically. She turned around to leave.

Bones blinked. Was she being…pissy? This was truly an unfamiliar behavior for her. He decided not to comment on her awful attitude, but instead followed her to the small home and lab, where at least he would get to look at both his pointy-eared darling and that busty Cadet Mueller.


	3. Blackbird

**((A/N ick, i feel like i haven't updated in forever! it's all the fault of those awesomes at ontd_st, distracting me so hardcore, hehe. well, here goes the third installment, finally. i own nothing but adie, because that's all i could even handle. enjoy! and please review c: you know how much i love them.))**

"Sir, transporting abilities have been cut off."

"Relay that message down to Adie and Bones while we still have the ability."

"Engines have been shut down."

"Of course they have…"

"Off-ship communication has been suspended."

"I hope they got the message…"

"Keptain, my courses zat I have laid out have been mangled!"

"Can anything else go wrong?"

Kirk was battling the need to go into a very nervous place as another ship was completely overpowering his own ship somehow. He glanced around as everyone was informing him of their own stations being shut down, and he let out a small sigh, staring at the screen and bracing himself to make another decision. He always liked to take no more than five seconds to react…that was all he could usually spare. Luckily, that was all he needed.

"Are communications open with the ship in front of us?" he asked, shaking his head.

"Affirmative, sir. The only line that is open, besides within our own ship," Uhura replied, pushing the little microphone device into her ear to make sure she wasn't missing anything while she spoke. She exchanged a nervous glance with Spock, who seemed to be taking all of this as he usually did. Logically.

"Do me a favor, link me up with them…" he mumbled. Once they were linked, he began to speak. "This is Captain Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise. To whom am I speaking?" he asked, and there was silence. "Come in…err, other ship. Enterprise to ship. You are impeding a Federation ship during a mission, which is an intergalactic offense." Still nothing. "Do you copy? Uhura, is the line open or not?"

"Yes, the line is open, but there appears to be no response. Captain." Uhura glared in Kirk's direction, and she rolled her eyes a little bit. He was so damn pushy when things were going south, and she was sick of it.

"Yeah, I gathered that…Spock, do you sense anything weird about this ship?"

"Nothing 'weird', no, sir. We are attempting to get a reading on the lifeforms on this ship, but they have some sort of advanced shields up that we cannot penetrate as of yet…" he mumbled, and he looked back up to Kirk for a moment before returning his gaze back down to the screen he was working on.

Kirk sighed. "I dunno, that sounds weird to me." He ran a hand through his hair. Kirk was beginning to show signs of irritation now. They took over his ship…wasn't this ship supposed to be best in Starfleet? Really! "Well, as they don't seem to be responding to any sort of message and have rendered us useless…" he grumbled, and he pushed a button to speak to the entire ship. Perhaps if he alerted the crew, the other ship would bother speaking to them. Who knew!

"This is Captain Kirk. I'd like everybody to report to battle stations, and report any systems offline to the bridge. An alien ship has taken over our systems, and refusing communication. Kirk out." But he wasn't done just yet. He needed to make sure the medical bay would be running without it's chief medical officer, after all.

He pushed another button as a red alert flashed through the bridge, and no doubt the rest of the ship. "Kirk to sickbay, acknowledge, please," he said, patiently, while everybody around him was working diligently.

"This is Nurse Chapel, reporting," came a shaky voice from the other side.

"Nurse Chapel, thank you for reporting. Drs. McCoy and Adellia are stranded on the planet below us. I need you to tell the third-in-command that he or she is now in charge of the medical bay. I also need you to prepare the beds, including two for Bones and Adie. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," she replied, and waited to see if he needed anything else before asking him a question. "Are they alright down there?"

Kirk smiled. "So far, they seem to be alright. We're tracking their vital signs and if there are any abnormalities, we'll report them to the medical bay immediately so you can make necessary preparations."

"Thank you, sir."

"No, thank you. Kirk out." He sighed, and stared forward, waiting for something to happen. Anything, really. Because he couldn't handle sitting here at a stand still. It was excruciating. He had zero control over his ship, nobody could do their job properly, and his two good friends were stuck on a planet that was constantly seeping lava out of everywhere it could. Today was an awful day.

----

Down on Manon, Adellia and Bones made their way back to the little house. Adellia looked around at the dry ground, and sighed at the hot air. As much as she hated to admit it, this situation was making her irritated. It was embarrassing for her to be so upset, considering the type of person she was. She was usually so grounded, but now…she felt so hot-blooded, as if she would just snap at the drop of a hat. It was an unusual feeling for her, but at the same time, it was a little liberating.

"I wonder what exactly is going on up there," Bones mused, breaking her concentration on herself. "It didn't sound like actual battle was happening, but it still sounded pretty serious…" he sighed, and shrugged a little bit. He knocked on the door, and naturally there was no answer for a while. "Should've done a damn hearing test…"

As he went to knock again, Adellia raised her fist and banged on the door, putting a little indention on it. She frowned, and backed up, looking back up to Bones who was staring at her with a raised eyebrow. "It's common knowledge that Vulcans are anatomically stronger than humans in most ways. And I am…bothered, by this situation," she said, and clenched her teeth afterwards.

Mueller was the one who answered the door, looking all-smiles. "Oh! Hallo!"

"Hello there, little lady," Bones said, and he smiled a little sheepishly. "Um…is Baker around?" he asked, and he peeked in. Describing the situation to him would be so much easier than describing it to Mueller. After all, how did somebody describe and mime a space attack and lack of transportation abilities?

"Ja! Baker!" she called, and there was a crash from a back room.

Baker poked his head out, which was covered in mousey brown hair. He narrowed his eyes, and got back up. "Did you need something else, doctors? Because we're very busy, you know…there's supposed to be a huge earth shift, based on the seismic readings we've been getting, and we're trying to, you know…prepare for that. Did you forget something?"

"Not to worry, Lieutenant Baker," Adellia spoke up. She was trying to remain as in control as possible, and perhaps talking would help. "We have been stranded here on this…planet. Our ship is apparently being held helpless, and we are not able to beam back up onto our ship. We are simply asking for some shelter, for the time being. This should not be as long as it may seem," she said, her voice calm and sharp. She was beginning to sound angry, now.

Baker frowned, looking down at the two of them, nodding. "Yeah, certainly, come on in…you can stay here as long as it takes, certainly." He shrugged, and took a bite of the apple he had been munching on. "Sorry about that before…no offense, but I don't trust doctors."

"No offense taken," Bones said with a roll of his eyes, and he led the two of them in. Nobody trusted doctors anymore, it seemed.

----

That night, Adellia sat in a small room she shared with Bones. She was eating some dehydrated noodle soup. She sipped it, and wrinkled her nose. "I would venture to say that this may just be worse than what the Cardassians gave us," she said flatly, and set the soup down on the bedside table. The two of them sat on their little cot, the only one left, attempting to down that god-awful soup.

They didn't receive any communication from Enterprise, so neither of them really knew what was going on. Bones was becoming increasingly worried about what was up there, and whether or not everybody was all right. As much as Bones did not want to die in a fiery blaze, those were his friends. And he would have much rather died with his friends than live without them, at this point. At least he had Adellia…he guessed.

He couldn't help but notice she was being a little difficult. She'd been rude to Mueller and Baker, rude to him, and had been an otherwise unpleasant person to be with. He assumed it was thanks to the stress of the situation, but then he thought back to the labor camps at Cardassia Prime…despite her crying episode, she was nothing like this. He didn't know what could have set her off like this, but he did know he didn't want to find out.

"I am sorry this has to happen to us," Adellia said with a small sigh, and she shifted a little bit where she sat. "We do not deserve this…that is, nobody does, but I shudder to think what our medical bay is like. The other doctors are very subpar, and I only hope there is no crisis. I don't think they could handle it."

"I think they could," Bones replied, standing up for his doctors. He rolled his eyes. "Adie, I know you're worried, but what's the big problem? You've been so…irritable. Now I'm willing to overlook the slightly hateful comments you've said about Mueller and the Germans, but…the doctors are capable enough to deal with a crisis. Don't call them subpar. They were handpicked by me—"

"Then perhaps you should have better judgement."

"—just like you."

The two of them glared for a moment before Adellia finally looked back down to her lap. Why was she being so cruel to him now? He didn't deserve this…but she couldn't stop it. She couldn't stop herself from being so hateful all the time. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew something had to be wrong, but she couldn't force herself to say anything about it. Her hands gripped the edge of the cot, and she looked like she was holding but a scream.

"I apologize," she finally uttered, and she looked up to him with a steely gaze. "I must be upset about this. I am…worried about our friends." She felt bad for lying about that, even if technically it wasn't a lie. She was worried, just not enough to be this upset. Something else was upsetting her greatly…she just wished she could stop taking it out on Bones.

Bones slid his arm around her, and he brought her into a bear hug. "It's okay, Adie. It's okay to be upset. What did I say about feelings? What have I always said about feelings?" he asked, and he smiled down at her, kissing her temple tenderly. "Let's get some sleep, darling…the comm will wake us up no problem, if we both end up falling asleep. Come on," he said, and he smiled, pulling her down onto the cot.

She closed her eyes when she lay down. She felt his strong arm over her body, and she pushed him away, frowning. Adellia didn't deserve his affection, so she wouldn't take it. Not right now.

**((A/N also, i'm not gonna lie, i want someone to write mueller/baker fic xD haha.))**


	4. Spark

**((A/N hallo there! goodness this chapter was long, lol. anywho, here it is c: enjoy and please review! thanks for reading!))**

Approximately one day had passed since Bones and Adie were stranded. Bones was beginning to notice Adie becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation. Not that he blamed her…they were stuck on a planet of lava oozing onto the surface with no way to communicate with their ship. Meanwhile, their ship was…well, Bones wasn't even sure what their ship was doing. It could have been any number of things, if the ship was doing anything. For all he knew, the ship was gone, without them. That was enough to frustrate even her.

The thought of their ship gone left Bones cringing. Those were all of his friends, after all, not to mention it was his home. All of his things were up there, all of his employees, and Kirk. He just hoped things were being taken care of.

It was what Bones and Adie would consider evening time, now. They sat on their cot just like they had the previous night, pushing through some dehydrated chicken breast and a few mixed vegetables. They ate in silence so far. Bones was hesitant to say anything, out of fear of her getting more upset with him. She'd snapped at him twice so far, but otherwise, they'd been having pleasant conversations. On her terms.

It was beginning to irritate him, now, but what could he honestly say? "Adie, stop being scared, it's starting to piss me off"? Anything he said would have sounded insensitive coming out of his mouth, so he chose to say nothing. He would just respond to what she wanted to talk about—it was the safest route. He didn't remember ever having to take a safe route with her, but apparently now it was a necessity.

"This is actually acceptable," Adellia finally spoke up, and she offered a little smile. "It is nothing compared to what the Enterprise had to offer, of course. Not to mention that sweet little barbecue place you love taking me too." She smirked up to him, and took another bite. "I do love that place. I always have, ever since you first took me there…" she stared forward, and sighed, looking distantly now. Like something was on her mind.

He smiled. "Yeah, it's a good place. I'm glad you like it. Maybe once we back on Earth we can enjoy it again. Kirk used to hate it…he was too much of a wuss to take the portions. Boy grew up in the Midwest, I suppose," he said with a small shake of his head, and he nibbled on the Jell-O cup he was holding.

"I would like that," she said, gently. Then she turned back up to him. "I have a question, Bones."

"What's that?"

"Would you like to move in together?" she asked, and paused to let that sink in. "We have been together for quite some time…an appropriate amount of time, I think…and it is something I would be interested in. If you are not, I understand," she said, and she grinned up to him, expecting an answer. She hoped he would be interested in it…this was something she'd been stewing about for a while, now.

Bones blinked. Ooh, of all times for her to ask this, really…He wasn't sure what to say. He didn't want to say no, because part of him kind of did, but another part of him wanted to seriously think about this. He was afraid she would get upset with his answer, though, considering how…testy, she had been as of late. He glanced down at her, and took a bite of Jell-O, thinking this over.

"Well…" he began, and he went to continue to speak, when Baker knocked on their door. "Uhh…come on in," he said, and shot an apologetic look to Adellia, who looked a bit irritated with this intrusion.

"May we help you?" she asked, and stood, setting her chicken down.

Baker blinked. "Well, I mean…I just needed to let you guys know that there may be some very heavy seismic activity happening soon. It will be dangerous, but…I don't think this place will have much danger. Just don't sit under any chandeliers, if you can help it." He smirked. "If you guys want some more food, help yourselves." He shrugged, and left.

Adellia sat back down, glancing up as if to check they were surrounded by fine china. "Well, that is a good piece of information, I suppose…" she mumbled, and she looked down to her feet, smiling a little to herself. "I have never experienced an earthquake before in my life. This should be interesting." She looked around, like she expected the earthquake to come through the window.

Bones was startled by her sudden mood change from both a clinical and personal point of view. And then he had to wonder if all of this was just because of stress and worry. He frowned, looking down and then back up at her. What else caused mood swings? Depression, obviously. Was there some sort of weird Vulcan menstrual cycle? No, he would have learned about that…and then he had it. He knew what it was.

"Have you been feeling sore?" Bones asked, which obviously caught her attention. She blinked. "Just answer the question. I'm, err…I'm curious."

Adellia raised her eyebrow. "I…have not, no. Is there a reason you're attempting to diagnose me?" she asked, and she watched him get up and go to his medical belt. "Ooh, and now you're getting your tricorder…Bones, if anything was wrong, I would definitely know about it. I know my own body, I—" she stopped as he began to wave the tricorder around her head, and she rolled her eyes. She sat there, shaking her head, but allowed him to get whatever kind of reading he wanted.

"Sit still," he said, gruffly, and he frowned. "Hm…all of your levels are normal…temp's fine, heart rate is…elevating…" he glanced up at her, and saw the reason why in her angry stare. "Your blood pressure is normal, for you."

"Well, I apologize I am of Vulcan heritage." She stopped his hand, and she sighed. "Bones, I'm fine. I've told you already, I am just…worried. That's all." She nodded. "I know it must be in your nature to try and…cure me, of some kind of…something. I'm not so sure why you're acting like this, actually. Are you trying to justify my feelings?" she asked, glancing up at him and frowning a little.

"Well…" Bones began, hesitantly. Honestly, she was the only person in the world that could make him hesitant to be open and honest for fear of what she would think or say. "You have been a little…testy, lately. It's unlike you, is all, and I just wanted to know if something was wrong, or something…"

"Testy?" Adellia asked, and her cheeks flushed. This was not an adorable sort of flush like he usually saw. She rose up and put her hands on her hips, letting out a frustrated grunt. "Honestly, Leonard, I never thought you would act like…this. Like this. Like a man who can't seem to understand worry when he sees it. Must there be something clinically wrong with me? Can I not just have a difficult time?" she asked.

"Why do you always call me Leonard when you're pissed?"

"I'm not pissed!" she snapped, and realized how wrong she was, but did nothing to correct it. "I am upset, a little, yes, because you expect me to go into every situation with a certain…_Kolinahr_ attitude, don't you?" she accused. Her face looked a little upset, but it was what was boiling inside of her that worried her. She felt like she wanted to just scream and throw him against the wall. Thank goodness she was still in control.

"Adie, when have I ever even hinted at that? I just thought you might be experiencing something from this damn planet, would you stop assuming so much? I'm sick of it," he said, but wasn't as angry as she was, obviously. "I'm a doctor, that's what I do, I'm not a damn shrink!"

"No you certainly aren't," she responded, narrowing her eyes. "I'm beginning to wonder how good of a doctor you are, given your casualness with me. I wonder what it must be like to be one of your patients—"

"Okay, you know what? I've had quite enough of this bullcrap, alright?" he said. "We're done. I'm stopping this here."

"_You_? Since when have you appointed yourself king of this relationship? If I wish to continue telling you about how I feel, then I intend to!"

"Well then go, Adie! Tell me! How the hell are you feeling? Let me deal with how you're feeling, coddle you, while we all ignore how _I'm _dealing with this situation. Because when it comes to things like this, it's always, always about you!" Bones finally let go, yelling at her. He growled afterwards, and put down the finger he was pointing directly at her.

Adellia frowned, and she looked down, but didn't say anything. Instead she plopped down and put her head in her hands. Some tears came out, but she didn't make any sounds. Instead, she just sort of sat there for a moment, before she finally looked back up to him. Her eyes were watery, which made him feel like a true asshole.

"Bones…look, I—" she stopped as the ground shook violently.

The two of them held onto each other and went to the doorway, which was apparently the safest place for earthquakes. There were some cracks in the walls after the ten second shake, but other than that, nothing seemed to be hurt. Bones realized how tight his grip was on her upper arms when it stopped, and he pulled his hands away, looking around.

"Well, that was definitely an experience," he said, stupidly, and rubbed the back of his head. "You okay, darling?"

"I am unharmed. Are you injured?"

"Not a scratch on me, nope." He glanced around. "You were about to say something," he said, giving her the opportunity to continue. He hoped she wouldn't, he honestly did, but…this could have been important enough for him to stop being mad at her.

"I…" she began, and she rolled her eyes. "No, I was not going to say anything." The two of them stood there, awkwardly, until the heavy footsteps of somebody running down the hall came.

Baker came skidding down the hall, sliding across the floor and into a wall. After he recovered from having his head hit the wall, he ran up to the two of them, panting. "You guys!" he started, still breathing hard from him sprinting across the lab. "There's something…very dangerous…"

"Well, spit it out!" Bones yelled.

"The rock our lab is sitting in is slowly sinking into the lava," he got out, and he looked to the two of them.

Adellia was next to speak up. "Well, the logical course of action is to evacuate the premises as soon as possible, then. We must gather our things, and prepare to leave at once," she said, quickly. All irritation seemed to be gone, now. She was all business.

"That's a great idea, wish I would have thought of that!" he said sarcastically. "There was a crack in the rock, and we're separated from the rest of the area, now. We're going down," he said, shakily, and he looked to them.

"Well thanks for letting us know, now excuse us while we figure out a damn solution," Bones said, harshly, and he pushed past Baker. Adie followed him closely, thinking to herself. "You got any bright ideas?"

"None yet, no. We could make a bridge sort of thing out of materials we have around here, perhaps some wood or something to that effect…let's survey the size of the gap, and then we could make an inference on it," she said, and the two of them opened the door.

The crack was about eight feet from the doorway, and was nearly fifteen feet wide. Adellia chewed on her lip, and Bones winced. "Well…nevermind with that idea. Good try, though, darling. Just no cigar…"

"There must be _some_ way," Adellia said, her voice getting shaky, now.

"Hai!" called Mueller, just trying to get their attention. "Ehh…" she began, and once Baker got in, he looked to her expectantly. "I…" she continued. It was obvious she was reviewing some English words in her head as quickly as she possibly could. The other three stared at her impatiently. Finally, she looked up, looking panic stricken. "Ten meters!" she finally said.

"Until we hit the lava?" Baker asked, and his assistant nodded. His voice went quiet. That wasn't a long time. "We're sinking at a relatively quick rate, then, just great…of all the damn planets to stick us on, it had to be the one that _bleeds_ lava…"

"Well let's focus on the immediate problem. Is there no emergency shuttle? No…lava-resistant raft?" Bones asked quickly, and Baker shook his head "Anything we could use to get off this planet in an emergency?" Surely if Starfleet were to expect someone to be on a planet with earthquakes and lava, they would equip them to deal with it. Surely.

"No, we're researchers! We're not pilots anyway," Baker said, and he looked around. "We should go outside and see the…see it." He looked white as a ghost as he walked out. Bones followed, and Adellia waved for Mueller to follow her. The woman looked up, confused, and she sighed, following them out.

Adellia watched them sinking, and she let out a tiny sigh. Bones put an arm around her. He didn't want to give up, of course, but this seemed…pretty futile. Baker looked as if he might start crying, and Mueller actually was crying very loudly. They sunk closer and closer to the lava as the seconds ticked by. No one could come up with an idea under this kind of pressure.

"Perhaps if we…" Adellia mumbled, and she shook her head, ignoring the hopeful looks of everybody around her. "Or we could…no, that would not work either…"

"Would you stop it?" Baker snapped, and he rolled his eyes. "Dear God, I'll die of false hope if you start and stop like that one more time…"

"Hey, watch it," Bones said, pointing his finger right into Baker's shoulder. "She's just trying to help."

The two of them went into a screaming match, which only worsened Mueller's crying into sobbing. Adellia felt the anger boiling up in her heart much like the lava was towards them. Her cheeks flushed green as she looked around, her fists pumping. She honestly felt like hitting Bones. Or Baker. Or both. Anyone Her fists began to shake and her head got a little fuzzy.

Something caught her ear, though. "Stop it!" she yelled suddenly, and pulled Bones' com from his belt. "This is Dr. Adellia—"

"About time, I've been calling you for ages!" Came Scotty's happy voice. "You lot ready to come on up here now?"

Bones grabbed the communicator back. "Bones here, we've got two more and need you to hurry. We're sinking into lava," he said, loudly, and glared at Baker. They were getting close, now, but Scotty was the best.

"Locking on you lot now, and…there!"

----

The four of them had been beamed up, and Adellia sat on a biobed, thanks to the insistent nature that Bones had. She sat with her legs dangling just above the floor, looking as still as a statue as she did. One of the doctors waved a tricorder gently over her face, while a nurse extracted a green blood sample, which she sent off to the lab. All the while she had a grim look on her face. This was embarrassing, having her coworkers look at her like this.

After she was examined, Bones walked up to her. She sighed, looking up at him. Bones smiled, and she just sighed at him. "Hello. I told you nothing was wrong," Adellia mumbled, and even smirked a little bit up at him.

"Yeah, well, we don't have the tests back, do we?" he asked, and he rolled his eyes before glancing down at a nurse. "Ooh, thank you, Nurse Chapel." Bones scanned through her blood test, finding everything normal, except for one simple thing. "Adie, your cortical levels are through the roof…"

"That is normal in Vulcans under stress," Adellia said calmly, but something in the back of her mind told her she should be worried. That could mean only one thing. But she couldn't tell him…there was nothing he could possibly do. She had nobody waiting for her on Vulcan II. Then again, didn't _something_ have to get done? And soon?

"Still, this is a bit disconcerting…"

"I said I was fine, Bones. I'm retiring to my quarters for the night. You are welcome to join me, if you wish," she said, and she hopped off without another word. Bones was worried, but not as much as Adellia was.


	5. Eyes On Fire

"Can I get everyone to report on their systems, which are probably offline?" Kirk's voice was tired and exhausted as he leaned against his chair, rolling his eyes a little bit. They'd been here more than two days, now, just sitting in silence. Every once in a while, the others would make contact, but it would always be only them making a "sit tight and wait" kind of announcement. Kirk was more insulted than he ever had in his entire life.

As reports from everybody came back negative, he let out a very loud and obnoxious sigh. "Alright. Well. Uhura. Do me a favor and try to get something out of them again, will you?"

But before she could, they actually contacted him first. "Captain Kirk," came a slightly squeaky voice, but it was still a little intimidating. "We have decided a course of action as far as your ship goes," it said, and then, there was nothing. A light hum indicated that he was offline, but Kirk was hopeful. Maybe that just meant there was something humming in the background.

Kirk blinked. "Do you…intend to tell me what that action is, by any chance?" he asked, and there was nothing. He let out a very frustrated sigh at that. "This is the captain, for the final time, what are your motives with our ship? I implore you not to do anything drastic," he said, and he could feel the eyes from everybody around him right on him. This was more nerve-racking than he thought it would be.

"I do not intend to tell you anything, captain," the voice finally said. It was icy and high-pitched. Uhura shivered when she heard it. "I welcome you calling on Starfleet—though we both know they won't come immediately. All ships are busy elsewhere, aren't they, captain?" the alien asked, and he snickered a little bit.

Damn. That was true, yes. "Well then we have nothing left to say," he said, and when he nodded, Uhura cut off the transmition. "Alright…" he said to himself, and wet his lips, glancing around. He caught Spock's eyes, and Kirk could tell his mind was in the same place his own mind was. The two of them were trying to figure out how to be released of their hold…how did they come across this technology, to control a Federation ship? Not to mention the shields they had up.

As soon as Kirk thought about their shields, their ship was hit once. The damage was more than it ought to have been, thanks to their shields being shut down by the other ship. Without Uhura's consent, the alien from the other ship came back on over the speaker. Kirk noticed some people pause in their jobs, and for once, he didn't blame them.

"How dare you cut off our conversation. I was willing to negotiate with you, but if you are unwilling to speak about negotiations, then perhaps I should ignore you…"

"No, no, we're more than willing to negotiate," Kirk said, quickly. He said it as strongly as he could, despite the fact that he felt small in his mind.

This situation was making him feel more and more helpless. He felt like a child, bending to this alien's will, if only because he could destroy the Enterprise at a drop of the hat. Kirk bit his lip angrily at how he and the rest of the crew were being treated. It was disgusting, unfair, and he couldn't help but wonder what kind of alien this must be. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if this alien was lonely, or sad. Was that what it wanted? Some attention from another species? But surely a ship that big required more than one lonely alien to man it. It was a powerful ship, and he had a hard time believing it only held one being.

"That's what I thought," the alien said, and chuckled. That made Kirk's blood boil. "There are some things I have been wanting, of course…"

"What do you want?" Kirk asked quickly, and maybe a little too eagerly. He had to remember to scale that back a little bit. Negotiations were a tricky game after all.

"You might find that I have a few warrants on my head." The alien's voice became serious, in comparison to the taunting tone it had before. "Just some minor infractions, something that's become more of a bother than a threat. So I've decided that I want those charges lifted, in return for the lives of your crew and your ship."

"That might be arranged, if we are allowed to contact Starfleet—"

"Did I say I was finished, captain?" the alien said, and it let out a huffy little sigh. "As I was saying. There is also the matter of having my items taken from me under some arrest. I'd request that they be given back to me. I had a few hundred drums of Romulan ale, along with some other sorts of alcohol. I want those back."

Kirk exchanged a worried glance with Bones, who stood next to his friend, as usual. "I…well. That might be a problem," he mumbled hesitantly. Kirk didn't want the sort of backlash he was expecting—he really didn't want his ship to be hurt anymore.

"And why would that be a problem? I want my ale back. That doesn't sound like a problem to me." He sounded impatient and irritated now. In his voice, it was downright creepy.

"The Federation's regulations are to destroy confiscated illegal contraband," Kirk mumbled still.

"Well then I suggest they give me replacement ale, somehow, or we're not going anywhere!" he yelled, snapping all of a sudden. His breaths could be heard over the speaker. It sounded like he was hyperventilating, until he took a puff of something, and finally cleared his throat. "I will contact Starfleet. I will list them my demands. The ball will be in their court, as you say."

After a moment of silence, Uhura spoke up. "Sir, he has cut the transmition and our communication abilities are offline once more." Her voice was very frustrated, just like everybody else's.

Including Bones'. "I don't think the Federation will take him seriously…" the doctor said gently, just throwing his hat in the ring about this.

"I believe they will take him seriously when they find they cannot communicate with our ship," Spock responded, very seriously. Sometimes it bothered him that Bones was up here on the bridge, when he had no real purpose, other than to be the pillow Kirk liked to lay his head on now and then.

"Tcht…" Bones just grumbled, and he rolled his eyes a bit. "Medical supplies won't last us forever, you know. That's the last thing I need to worry about, what with my nurses breaking their feet and my second-in-command with skyrocketing cortical levels…" he said, rolling his eyes. He didn't mean to put extra pressure on his captain, but…then again, yes he did. Kirk could use some pressure sometimes, he decided.

"Bones, we're not gonna be here long enough for you to run out of medical supplies, will you just…" he began, and he gave Bones a look that told him to please shut up. Like he didn't have enough pressure on him already.

Spock turned to Bones, though, stopping what he was doing. "Pardon me, Dr. McCoy, but are you referring to Dr. Adellia when you speak of your second-in-command having high cortical levels?" he asked, in his smooth voice. He acted as if he was merely curious, but he wondered if Adellia had been told what she might have been enduring. He wondered if she knew how to handle it.

"Well, I don't have two of those, do I?" Bones asked, sarcastically. "Why?"

"No reason, merely curious," Spock said, and he returned to his work. In the back of his mind he knew he had to make it a point to meet with her, as briefly as he could. He never talked about this…it was unheard of to talk about. But if there was a chance she did not know, thanks to where she raised and with whom she was raised, he had to at least check on her. As much as he would hate it, he had to.

----

That night, Adellia sat in her quarters, looking over a calendar curiously. She was marking three days that had already past, and because she was alone, she looked worried. It was in the back of her mind, certainly, but she was at a loss as to what to do about it. She knew she had at the most eight days, _maybe_ a day longer thanks to her human heritage. But how was she supposed to approach this subject with anybody?

Her natural instinct was to, of course, go to her chief medical officer. But he also happened to be her significant other, so how was she supposed to approach that? She wasn't, that was the answer to that. Her next instinct was to go a rank lower, but…that was her. And that would solve nothing. Could she trust one of the other doctors? She knew she would trust the doctors on Vulcan II, but they obviously couldn't go anywhere.

Her quarters were everything anyone would expect them to be; clean and orderly. Her bed was made, her desk was clear of extra papers, and her floor was absolutely spotless. On her bulletin board she had pages of protocol, along with a few pictures of she and Bones. In the corner was a faded picture of her mother, who looked quite a bit like her.

Adellia didn't really feel like looking up at those pictures. She didn't need to be reminded of what she might leave behind if she didn't get this figured out. Adellia's whole body jumped when she heard a knock on her door. She rolled her eyes, closed her calendar, and got up to turn on the monitor. She saw Bones standing outside, patiently but with a scowl on his face. She bit her lip and glanced down.

The door opened and he saw the top of her head. "I'm up here," he joked, and smirked a little bit up at her when she raised her head to look at him. She was void of a smile, and that made him concerned. "You look sad. I mean, I'm no shrink or anything, but…" he mumbled, and he entered. Every action he was doing was very careful. He didn't want to set her off. But he knew his reason for the visit would do a good job of that anyway.

"I am alright," she maintained, and she sat on her bed, taking in a deep breath. "How are things on the bridge?" Light conversation…that was the way to go. She just had to keep it light, or everything would be ruined, and she would freak out on him like she was some sort of unintelligent animal.

"Terrible. We still can't budge," Bones replied very frankly. That was always his nature, though. He walked over to her bulletin board, and looked over some of the pictures she had hanging up of the two of them. "Can I talk to you about something important?"

"Yes," she replied, but this "yes" sounded a lot like a warning to him.

"Your cortical levels…"

"Please, Leonard, I don't need this."

"Yes, you do," he said, turning back to look right at her. "You do need this, and you know what? You're gonna get it." He folded his arms over his chest and walked closer to her. "You need to be admitted into the sickbay. Something's clearly wrong…I think even Spock knows something's wrong."

"What did you tell him?" she asked suddenly, shooting her gaze up at him. Her eyes narrowed.

"I just mentioned your problem, and he sounded concerned."

"He's a scientist, Leonard, he's concerned about everything." Adellia was panicking on the inside. Spock knew. He _had_ to have known. That was both very embarrassing and very concerning. What if he mentioned something to her? Or worse, what if he told Bones? She would never hear the end of it. And that situation…she wouldn't want to be involved in that kind of situation, it would be beyond awkward.

"Stop…calling me that," he said, and she looked away. "Look, it's not often I say this, but…damnit, I'm worried about you. I'm a doctor, it's what I do, I have concern for sick patients. And I know damn well it's not 'normal' for someone like you to have these kinds of levels, it's still abnormal! I just don't know why yet, and you gotta give me a chance to figure out why!"

"Someone like me?" she asked, and she shook her head. He had to say that. He just had to. It was the worst thing he could say…and he knew it. "What sort of person am I, then, Leonard?" This was what would set her off. She couldn't hold it back anymore. Some had to come out, or she would end up attacking him or somebody else physically, and she certainly could not have that.

"Now you know I didn't mean that…"

"Then what _did_ you mean?" she asked, standing up and going over to him. "I don't…really feel like seeing you right now. I wish you would leave."

"Adie, hear me out, come on. You're _sick_, you need medical treatment—"

"I said go!" she yelled suddenly, and banged her fist against the wall. She put a small hole in it. Blood rushed to her cheeks as she stared at him, her heart racing a million miles an hour. "Please." She lowered her voice to the lowest level she could, which was not all that low. She looked desperate to get him out of the line of fire. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt him any further than she already had. He didn't deserve this, but it was coming if he did not leave.

Bones frowned, and he left without another word. He knew he would have slammed the door if he could have.


	6. Come What May

**((A/N whoo! hi there c: thanks for reading. and please do continue reviewing, i love it so, teehee. i hope you enjoy!))**

A day after the alien spoke, there was still nothing to be done. Their ship was still taken over, and absolutely nothing was online. Most had been put "at the ready", according to Kirk. The only people who seemed to be actively working all the time were the medical staff, but that was only because they had nothing to do with the welfare of the ship. Everybody else was standing by for something—anything—to do.

Adellia and Bones hadn't spoken to each other since she exploded at him the day before. Bones was angry with her, simple as that. He couldn't fathom what would make her act so…unlike herself. Her attitude was horrible, her normal sweet and calm exterior had been shattered, and she was difficult to get along with. He was also concerned about her health…she refused to be seen by him, and he was getting ready to order her officially. He had yet to order her to do anything that she wouldn't have done herself already, so this would be difficult.

She was heartbroken. She knew why he was so angry, but she couldn't stop herself from being so hateful. _Plak tow_ was awful for her, and she couldn't make herself stop saying what she said. It was like a different person came out when she was forced to communicate, despite the fact that she didn't want to say or think any of these things. People in the medical bay were avoiding her, but most people didn't know why. The only person who knew was Spock.

Spock was sitting in the galley with Uhura. He ate soup from his home planet while Uhura pushed a chef salad around her bowl, idly. The two of them sat in silence for a while, but it was clear something was in Uhura's mind. She kept shifting, looking at him, and expecting him to ask what was on her mind. Spock merely raised his eyebrow and sipped from his spoon. Perhaps she was anxious. Anxious about what, though?

"Is there something on your mind, Nyota?" he asked. When he spoke to her in their private time, his voice was much calmer and very quiet—much in the way Adellia spoke to Bones. To some people it may seem he was ashamed of being with her, but he was only just careful around her. He treated her delicately even if he knew she didn't need it. He just…wanted to.

"You know what's going on with Adie, don't you?" she asked, and he turned his gaze back down to the soup. "Look, whatever it is…if it's hurting her…"

"I estimate she may perish in three or four days," he finally said. Spock preferred not to lie to people, but he took it a step further around her. Something about her made him want to tell the truth. All of the truth.

"Then you _have_ to tell Bones," she said, looking very worried, now. She and Adie were friends…if she was going to die, wouldn't Spock want to save her? Uhura looked at him with wide eyes. What could be stopping him from doing something about this? "Spock, if she's gonna _die_, something needs to happen. You can't just…I mean, you wouldn't just stand back and let this happen, would you?"

"It is a…touchy subject," he said, awkwardly. This was the most uncomfortable he'd ever been around her. "It is a subject Vulcans never speak of, save for at the necessary times. To bring up her…process, it would be disrespectful and embarrassing on both of our parts. However…" he looked to her, and he winced at the look she was currently giving him. She was angry, now.

"However, given her heritage on your planet Earth, I'm curious as to whether or not she is aware of her condition. She may not have been educated on the subject as…as thoroughly as most Vulcans have been. If that is the case, then it is my duty to inform her of her condition, and help her in finding a solution." He was staring at his soup, now. He just couldn't stop thinking about how wrong this was to talk about. This subject was sacred. And Nyota was…her.

"What condition is this exactly?" she asked, skeptically. "If it's a sickness, then I'm sure Bones could take care of her. He's supposed to be one of the best."

"This is no sickness or disease, Nyota." He was very concentrated on his soup.

"Then what is causing her to act like that?"

Spock sighed. "I believe there is a saying on Earth that, if I recite it correctly, goes like this: 'Ask me no questions, and I will tell you no lies'." He sipped his soup, trying to ignore that angry look she was giving him. "You must respect this, Nyota. It is an incredibly private matter in Vulcan biology. The fact I am speaking about it now would anger any Vulcan. But, Dr. Adellia is one of my crew members, and if she is indeed ignorant in this, I have no choice."

Uhura sighed, and nodded gently. "I understand. I'll leave it alone. Just…even if this is a big secret among Vulcans…promise me that you'll talk to her?"

"I certainly will, Nyota," Spock said, just as gently as ever. He looked to her, and even smiled a little. He had a hard time expressing how much he cared for her, but somewhere in his mind, he knew she knew.

----

A few hours later, Spock finally got the courage up to approach Adellia. She had been scheduled quite a bit of time off—he suspected the nurses talked about special treatment, but he knew why. Dr. McCoy was very worried. Spock observed the way he looked at her when he did manage to see them together, and while he was understandably upset, Spock had a feeling he was not upset over the things she said but rather the condition she was in.

When he knocked on her door, Adellia glanced up and looked into the monitor, fully expecting to see Bones standing there with a scowl on his face. When she saw Commander Spock, all the green drained out of her cheeks, and she was left a pale mess. She gulped, and had the doors open before she stepped back.

"Good afternoon, Commander Spock. To what do I owe this…visit?" she asked, not yet inviting him in. Maybe he was just coming to remind her of a certain duty, or to talk to her about a medical problem _he_ was having. Since he wasn't in any sort of fight or battle, it was safe to say he was fit as a fiddle, but…she could still hope, right?

"I was hoping I might be able to step in and discuss a private matter with you, doctor," he said, and just as he'd hoped, she stepped aside and allowed him to come in. Her heart sunk. She knew precisely what this would be about…he was going to talk to her about something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

"Thank you," he said, and he stepped in. He watched her sit down, stare forward, and look nervous. Spock didn't blame her…if he was in her position, he would have been doing the same thing. "I have come here to speak to you about an extremely personal matter. I realize you may not know precisely what you are going through, given the planet you were raised on—"

"I know what it is, Mr. Spock." Adellia hung her head as she said this.

"Very well. If you are familiar with what you are currently experiencing, then you must be aware of what you should do. How many days would you say you had left?" he put his hands behind his back. It must have been difficult, with her being the doctor, and him being in here. He was lecturing her like she often did.

"Approximately four, if I'm lucky. Definitely three." Adellia had never looked sadder than she did right now. He was like her physician…and it drove her crazy. She was the doctor, not the patient. "But what am I supposed to do to remedy the situation? I have never been taught the proper way to meditate, so that option is definitely thrown."

"Have you been betrothed? I realize you were raised on planet Earth, but you did have a Vulcan mother. Is this correct?"

"It is correct, but I was never paired up, no," she mumbled. "Nobody would be waiting for me on Vulcan II, just like nobody is waiting for me on this ship."

Spock frowned, hesitant about venturing into this next part. This was on such a personal level. He felt like he was being unfaithful to Uhura by talking about this with her, especially considering Adellia's gender. But he was first and foremost an Officer, and he would be there for his personnel. As much as he did not want to.

"I suppose you know your next course of action…" he mumbled, and looked away from her slumped form, embarrassed to no end. "Which is your only option left. You must, doctor."

Adellia pushed back some of her hair. She turned her eyes up to him. "I understand what my next course of action should be. But I am hesitant all the same. It feels…incorrect, for me to use him for my own instinctual needs. The situation is all wrong, and I do not wish to put him in that position. There are medication alternatives I would be willing to invest in, however."

"I would consider taking this course of action immediately, then. It could take up to a day and a half before he would see any sort of improvement," Spock advised, and he turned around towards her door. "If there is nothing else…"

"Thank you," Adellia said before she could stop herself. She looked up at him, at his back, and she nodded.

He turned back around, and she knew precisely what to do. She rose, and the two presented each other with the Vulcan salute for the very first time. In that moment, Adellia felt whole and unashamed of what she was going through. Spock understood. Even though they were raised in seemingly different situations (when in reality, it was very similar), he understood her.

"Live long and prosper," he said, softly.

"Live long and prosper, Commander Spock."

----

After nearly thirty minutes of convincing herself, she finally exited her quarters and began towards the medical bay. Anxiety swept over her for the first time in a long time. She was worried about the medication, and whether or not it would work. She worried about what looks she would be getting from the staff. But most of all, Adellia worried about what Bones would think. Naturally he would treat her, but would he be happy with her? Absolutely not. Probably not. She hoped not.

She finally walked into the medical bay, and kept her head down. She felt shame; shame for admitting this problem, and shame that it took her so long. Most people tried to avoid her gaze, which she was so very thankful for. Adellia walked past some of the beds and approached the back of Bones, who was working on one of the computers. She lifted her hand and placed it on his shoulder, which caught his attention.

He turned around, and then turned back to the computer. "You're not scheduled to work right now, Adie. You shouldn't be in here, you know what it's like with excess crew—"

"I need to be treated." This came out as a squeaky little voice, which she had originally intended to be a strong voice. Ooh, well.

"You sure about that?" Bones asked, but he turned back around to look at her, raising his eyebrow. "Yesterday you were declaring you didn't need anybody and punching out walls."

Adellia winced. Okay, but she deserved that. "I…didn't mean it, obviously. I meant…" she looked down to her feet, then. "I'm sorry about how I acted. It's difficult to explain…I hope I don't have to…but I need to try this, and I need to try this on the strongest dose I can take. This needs to work quickly, or…" she went off there, deciding not to tell him about the fact she might die. "…it'll get worse."

"Is this some kind of Vulcan thing? I mean, Spock knew what was up. I'm no idiot. And I don't mean to put a label on you, or anything…silly like that." Bones was now looking into her eyes, and it was clear that he was beyond glad she decided to be treated for her illness. Whatever it was.

"It is a very…touchy, subject," Adellia mumbled, and she nodded, closing her eyes and sighing. She looked as if she might just spiral into a panic attack at that moment, thanks to the nerves and anxiety she feeling.

"Okay, okay, we'll get you a bed and an IV drip…this will be taken care of." He smiled, put a hand on her shoulder, and snuck a kiss to her forehead. "Thanks for finally coming in here for this. I told you you were sick…"

"I could do without that, Leonard," Adellia said, and she frowned up at him. He snickered, shrugged, and led her to a bed to get started on treating this mysterious Vulcan illness.

----

Nearly an hour later, Adellia glanced at the needle in her arm. "You know, a course of injections might have gone farther…" she mumbled to Bones, and she smirked. "This method, while faster, is a tad archaic for my taste," she half-teased. Part of her was shocked he was using an IV drip, but this was technically faster than a round of injections.

"Deep down, I'll always be just an old country doctor," he replied, and smirked. As he wrote down on her chart, the ship gave a very quick and startling lurch, and he looked up to her. Color drained out of both of their faces…the ship wasn't attacking them, was it? He set down the chart. "Adie, I gotta go…"

"Go. Remind Dr. Banner of his responsibilities now that I'm…here." Now Adellia felt useless. The ship was being attacked, and she was stuck to a bag of medicine, unable to fulfill her duties on this ship. She knew she had to, but this was excruciating. "Be safe!"

"You, too, Adie." Bones took off from her room, sweat already forming on his forehead.


	7. Lucky

**((A/N ooh my goodness. i am so sorry i suck at updating :c i'm moving into college like tomorrow, so this whole week has been so insane for me. but anywho, here's the next chapter. i hope yall enjoy it! please keep reviewing, you know i love to hear any and all thoughts on stuff! and thank you SO MUCH for reading. i say that a lot so it may not sound genuine anymore, but i truly mean it! wheee!))**

The attacks were brief, all thanks to Kirk. When the first torpedo was shot, Kirk immediately yelled general orders—and then turned his attention to Uhura. "Try to get a signal to him, please!" he yelled over the confusion on the bridge. He looked back forward as Sulu moved to fire as much as he could, but the ship had some of the strongest shields anyone on the bridge had ever seen. Kirk heard static in his head as the torpedoes hit the ship, and he gripped his chair with white knuckles, but otherwise kept a cool air about him.

"Sir, the alien has turned our shields back on, but have continued to fire," Sulu reported quickly, yelling over the mess just like everybody else was. He wondered why everybody had to shout—the stress of the situation was getting to everybody too quickly for his liking.

"Well, good to know he has a heart. How're you coming with that transmition, Uhura?" he asked, glancing back to her.

"It's closed for now, but I'll continue to work!" Uhura gasped, pushing the microphone against her ear to shield it from the other noises going on in the bridge. She looked stressed, but still meant to perform her job admirably. What she could do, anyway.

"Please do. Sulu, how are our weapons?"

"Still offline sir!"

"Push all power to the front of the ship, we need to protect it while we still have the chance. Spock, can you tell me anything about his shields?"

"They appear to be made from a synthetic material I do not know of, sir," responded Spock, and he was working away. The conversation with Adellia, Kirk's anxiety, and even Uhura was out of his mind now—he was one hundred percent focused towards the matter at hand.

"Of course you don't know about it, that would be way too easy…"

"Captain Kirk," came an icy voice from above, and Uhura quickly and quietly informed Kirk of the transmition. "It's fun to watch you scramble. Your shield power seems to be down to seventy percent…that wasn't my fault, was it?" he asked, and he chuckled softly. Kirk looked beyond angry, but the alien continued. "I talked to Starfleet. For quite a while, too."

"Is that a fact?" Kirk nearly yelled, while everybody tried to work as quietly as they could. It took a lot to push him to this point, but this anonymous alien was definitely getting him there. He saw red as he sat in his captain's chair, staring at the ship ahead of him.

"It is a fact. We spoke on our agreements, but…to quote them, they do not 'negotiate with intergalactic terrorists'. Which got me thinking…your ship has become my little hostage, hasn't it? Kind of pathetic that something as vast as the majestic Enterprise could be taken by a rogue alien's ship, isn't it?" he asked, and snickered even more. There was a creaking noise that sounded like somebody shifting in a chair. "But as I was saying…I've decided to treat this situation as such. Naturally I don't want you communicating with Starfleet. I'd rather give them a much more dramatic incentive. I hope your shields can hold it."

"Sir, the transmition has been cut off," Uhura said automatically, as if she was ready for this to happen. And hell, she was, they all were. This was par for the course as far as that alien was concerned.

"Doesn't shock me. Sulu, is all remaining power up front?" Kirk asked, sitting straight up in his chair rather than leaning to the right, as he often did. This was a horrible tell, and he knew it, but he didn't care at this point.

"Yes sir, but we're slipping," he replied, shakily. Now the stress was beginning to get to him. The alien didn't intend to hurt them too bad, though, did he? They were hostages, right?

"We won't slip that much, he's not going to hurt us that bad. Just enough to get Starfleet's attention. Ooh, good, Bones, you're here…I need you to start preparing for the wounded, as many beds as you can fill. We're not going to get hit the hardest, but it'll be hard," Kirk said quickly.

Immediately Bones turned around, even though he'd just entered the bridge, and he did just that. Still, he couldn't help but be nervous for Adellia…she was lurking in the back of his mind as he shouted rude orders to the nurses. Every once in a while he turned to look at her. She looked absolutely miserable, sitting there. He knew she wanted to be in the action, and he had to admit, he was shocked she hadn't ripped that IV out and joined the party. Whatever this was must have been serious.

Bones focused on his medical bay first, though. Wounded and killed were already being brought in. He went into doctor mode, and did everything he could to get them better.

----

The attack was short lived, but the damage had been done, and this was still evident on the day after. The deck seven recreation center was no more, and Scotty was having a field day below working on everything he possibly could. Kirk was back on the bridge, having trouble forming orders because of how utterly useless he felt. The bridge was waiting for a command, any, but he had none to give. There was absolutely nothing to do in this situation.

Bones barely had time to breath between this attack and the wounded crewmen that followed. He was constantly being dragged back and forth, handling things that one person should not have to handle. For a day now he worked in the medical bay, and he was tired. But he had no officer to fall back on, so this was a necessity. He was currently concocting a cocktail for a person who suffered a large wound on their shoulder when a nurse approached him, clearing her throat.

He turned around, and rolled his eyes. "Please don't tell me somebody else died…" That may have sounded insensitive, but he was tired. And when Bones was tired, Bones was cranky.

"No, doctor, it's Dr. Adellia. She has requested your presence when you receive an opportunity. Also, she requested we check her Serotonin levels. The results are on her chart, and they're quite puzzling. One hour they were up sky high, and the next, they're below any healthy level," the nurse said, and handed Bones a chart.

"Thank you, Nurse Chapel. Do me a favor and when this is done mixing, please give Ensign Woq this injection," he mumbled, and turned on the chart. He went into Adellia's records, and looked over them with a concerned look. He shook his head at the results of every test…she was all over the map. This was now beyond disconcerting. This was just one more thing he had on his plate, now.

Bones went into her room, chart in hand, and he smiled at her. "Hey, there, darling. How're you feeling?" he asked, looking at her miserable form.

"This medicine is not working," Adellia said right off the bat. She had two days, three days tops. This needed to be fixed immediately. But how was she going to explain to it? She looked down, running a shaking hand through her hair. "I reviewed my chart when the results came. This medicine is not working."

"Well…" Bones began, and he shook his head. "No. It's not. Look…you need to explain to me what's going on. I get that it's a Vulcan thing." Now Bones was beginning to get irritated, but not at her. The situation was making him very angry. He couldn't help the woman he cared for most in the world (or any other), their ship was being held hostage by a cheeky alien who needed to get his drink on, and on top of that, Nurse Chapel was making advances. Something had to give.

"I get it. But I need to be able to help you. I…I order you to tell me," he said, and he grimaced. Bones didn't mean to say that, or mean it, but he did. And he had. He sat down at the edge of her bed, looking to her and putting a hand on her hand. "So what's going on with you?"

Adellia gulped. _Just go. You have to just say it, or it'll never come out._ She wondered why she always had trouble speaking to him, but she did. She just did. Adellia opened her mouth and tried to speak about three times, before finally she sighed. "It is difficult to explain. It's…it has to do with the hormones and biology of a Vulcan's body. Doctors aren't taught this because it's so sacred, nobody talks about it. I happened to come across a book that explained it in vague detail."

"It's called _pon farr_. It's…" Adellia sighed, looking down. This was so embarrassing. "It is a period of most every Vulcan's life, where…they must find a mate. In laymen's terms, it's a sort of heat Vulcans go through, where they must mate. They have to within about eight days. Most are betrothed at the age of seven, and are married."

Bones blinked. He was having a problem with computing this. She was going through heat? She had to mate? Vulcans were engaged at the age of seven? He looked back up to her, very seriously. "Is there somebody for you?" he finally asked, needing to hear the correct answer. If so, Bones wasn't sure what he would do. He was likely to fight for someone like her, yes, even against a Vulcan.

"No," she said quickly. Bones let out the quickest and deepest sigh of relief she'd ever heard. "I was not betrothed, because at the age of seven, I was living wit my father." Adellia felt bad that this was not the toughest part to get through. She wasn't sure she could tell him that this process was deadly if it wasn't completed. _Plak tow_ was a poison that wouldn't be exorcized unless it was forced out.

"Phew. I'm relieved. So…what happens if you don't mate?" he asked.

Bones didn't think he could take advantage of her in this situation. If this _pon farr_ business was changing her as much as it was, he wasn't sure he wanted her to be making this rash decision. He knew she had yet to be with a man, and he did not want her first experience to be driven by some cruel Vulcan hormones. Bones just didn't see himself doing that to her.

"If I do not mate in seven or eight days, then I will die." Her voice was shaky, but she got it out anyway. "Hence the rush on this medicine…which did not work…I have roughly two to three days before that happens to me." Adellia glanced up at him with a curious glance, to see how he would react.

Bones frowned. And then he did something he didn't expect he would do. He slipped into doctor mode, and out of his normal personality at the drop of a hat. Bones just didn't want to deal with that news just yet. "Well, the IV could probably come out. I'll have Nurse Chapel discharge you, but I…I have to report to the bridge. You know, the casualties and all. I'll be back, mmkay?" he said, and ruffled her hair. Like she was some kind of child.

As he walked to the bridge, he couldn't help but be mildly disgusted with himself. He was no shrink, but he knew he did that to push it out of his mind. Sometimes he just couldn't handle one more thing, and that was perhaps the last "one more thing" he could take. He didn't want to believe that she would be dead within the next two days if he didn't have sex with her. It just sounded surreal and…silly.

He walked onto the bridge, and stood next to Kirk, frowning. "We had two casualties in all," he reported, glancing to Spock, who seemed to be listening to his report. Which was fine, Spock could listen. In fact, maybe this one time, Bones encouraged it. He put his hands behind his back and frowned, staring forward.

Kirk did a double take, and narrowed his eyes. "Is there…something else?" he asked, looking a bit irritable, but it looked like Bones had something on his mind. And when Bones looked like had something on his mind, then it had to be something serious. He was even doing that thing where he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. That was a definite tell. Despite the fact that he was in the middle with an alien battle, well...Bones was his friend.

"Yeah, um…" he sighed, frowning forward. "Adie's going through this…thing…and the only cure seems for her to, err…" Bones blinked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Mate. For lake of a better word." He saw Spock look over in the corner of his eyes. This was pretty sacred, that's right…but he could trust Jim, right?

"So what's stopping you?" Kirk asked, idly. This did not sound like a problem for James T. Kirk.

"Well, she's a mess. I mean, her hormones are all over the place…I know you wouldn't feel bad for taking advantage of her, but I sure as hell would." He stared forward at the screen, lowering his voice. "Plus, this all seems a bit too unreal for me. This can't be what's causing her hormone levels to go up and down like this. I mean, you'd think I would have heard of this, being a Federation doctor and all."

Kirk went to say something, when Spock interrupted him. "You have to, Dr. McCoy. I realize this must be difficult for you to truly comprehend, given the fact that you are not going through it yourself, but this is a very serious time. She's changed because of a madness that ensues," he explained, quietly, and with a very complicated look. He wouldn't have done this had Bones not been hesitant about this. He had to stop this thought process.

Bones frowned, thinking this over. "So this is real, then? This is legitimate, and she's not going to regret this?" he asked, perhaps hinting a fear. Not that he thought he wasn't good at the act itself (he happened to fancy himself quite a catch in that respect), but rather the fear that she would wake up afterward and realized how much of a mistake she'd made. That was the last thing he wanted.

"No. Despite the insanity that takes over her body, this is a very logical process." With that, he returned to his work, intent that he had done everything he could have done to save Adellia. Bones and Kirk exchanged looks and Bones went over to his quarters, hailing Adellia to him.

When he opened the door and saw her there, he took her by the hand, and looked down at her. He took in a deep breath. "I understand it now…I understand what needs to be done…I'm sorry I didn't before. I know this is pretty…y'know, special, so I'll try not to make it worse with many words. I meant for this moment to be a bit more…well, I mean, you know, a bit more…"

But Adellia stopped him by putting her finger on his lips, shutting him up once and for all. She pulled his hand up and touched it with hers. For a moment she stared at their hands, content to take the lead. This was almost instinctual now, what she was doing. After she allowed their hands to stay suspended in the air, she pulled him down. Adellia pressed her forehead against his, and she looked into his eyes, attempting to form a bond between the two of them.

Bones' hand that touched hers started to shake, and he found himself leaning forward to kiss her. He felt the urgency she felt, but he still went at a surprisingly even pace…his body was screaming to hurry up, but his head was telling him this pace was good enough for them.


	8. Unusual You

**((A/N OOH MY GOODNESS COLLEGE IS SO ASDFGHJKL. anywho. i'm so sorry that i haven't updated! buhhhh, i have like no time :c anywho. i hope you enjoy this chapter. pleease gimme some feedback c: and check out some of my other fics, or...just read this chapter c: i don't care, just enjoy this chapter! THANK YOU FOR READING and for those who are subscribed to this story (or whatever the hell it's called) here's an update FINALLY.))**

The following morning, Adellia woke up, and immediately blushed. Her mind was completely different, now…she could barely remember what she used to think, or how, but she did remember all that she did. Immediately her heart fell into her stomach, and the guilt crashed over her. The way she treated people…everybody…Adellia ran a hand through her hair, trying not to wake Bones just yet. She needed a moment to collect herself and try to push this guilt down…enough to where she'd be able to say something anyway.

It was ten minutes before Bones finally woke up. He opened his eyes to see Adellia sitting on her desk, in her uniform, writing on a tablet. He winced and yawned, trying to grab her attention. "Mornin', darling," he grumbled, and sat up, stretching while remaining under the covers. Then last night sunk in. He could barely remember it…he remembered feeling the most intense he had ever felt in his life. Never before that had he experienced a night like that. It was humbling.

"How do you feel?" he asked. Bones didn't know if _pon farr_ was ended by just any kind of sex, or if it had to be…good, or…well, he just didn't know. He liked to think it was alright, but he was in a different state. He wondered what that was all about, but didn't want to ask her. He felt like it might ruin it.

"Very well, thank you," she replied, and then smiled. "Back to normal." Adellia continued to write down on the PADD, using her own finger, as she didn't have a stylus lying around. "How are you feeling?" she asked this very quietly. She didn't want to get a negative report, after all…she barely remembered it, but she remembered it being…sort of right. Like this was what it was supposed to be.

"I feel good," he replied, and he looked down at his covered lap. "So it worked, then, it…did the trick? You don't feel…like that anymore?" This was all so foreign to Bones; he didn't know what to say, and he didn't want to screw it up. The more he talked about this, the less comfortable he felt.

"It 'did the trick', yes," she said, smirking at how uncomfortable he was. Finally she turned off the PADD and glanced over to him. "The _plak tow_ has subsided, and it seems as if my _pon farr_ is over. I'd…like to thank you. I wanted to think you would have done this, but it was…understandably, a very tricky thing to ask." And then she just went ahead and said it. "Sex or death isn't a difficult choice, but like you said…I wish it would have been under different circumstances…"

"I don't." Bones looked up to her very seriously. "I've never experienced something like that. It was crazy…like all of my senses had been turned on eleven, and I seemed to feel what you were doing before you did it, and…" he laughed. "Doesn't that sound crazy? I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't experience."

"It was a bond I set up. I'm not sure how I did it, but it came naturally. I needed you to feel that way, I think, in order for it to work. I'm really not sure, Bones. I don't know much about this subject." Adellia smiled a little, and sat next to him, putting her hands in her lap. "I have to report in about fifteen minutes, just so you know. You need to report tonight…your schedule still stands," she said, smirking. He'd scheduled them like this on purpose, when he was angry with her, she knew it. And at the time, she didn't mind it. "I do hope you intend to schedule us regularly next week…" she mumbled, and she smirked down at her lap at that.

Bones chuckled, seeing that coy smirk of hers. "Course I will," he mumbled, and he put a hand on her shoulder, nodding once. His hand slid off, and he let out a loud yawn. "Ooh…anywho. So you're not going to go back to doing this again…are you?" he asked, pushing some hair through his now messy dark hair. He hoped not. As much as he didn't mind the actual act, he didn't enjoy what led up to it.

"In approximately seven years, yes. And the next seven years, until I have aged beyond the point of procreation," she responded, and shrugged a little bit. But Adellia didn't mention the next time…who knew if they would even be together, after all? She didn't like to assume they would be. After all, until last night, she was under the impression love was impossible for her. Even now, she wanted to think that was manufactured love.

"Well, at least we'll know what's going on by then…" he grumbled, and he sat up a little more, smirking over to her. But she wasn't smirking back. Lord…"What's on your mind, Adie?"

"I was just concocting an appropriate apology for all that was said while under the influence of _plak tow_," she replied. He saw him roll his eyes out of the corner of hers. In response, she sighed. "An apology is in order. Even if I was being influenced by my hormones, I was…not pleasant at all." Adellia smirked. "That has to be one of the biggest understatements of the year, I'd wager."

"Yeah, you were kind of a banshee. But it's not your fault, is it?" he said, and shrugged. "I mean…you didn't mean any of that stuff, anyway. Err…did you?"

"Of course not, Bones. I meant none of it. I should issue a formal apology to the medical crew; they deserve one after the way I bossed them around. I was shocked they did not resort to mutiny." Adellia finally cracked a natural smile at that. "And maybe Mueller as well. I know she couldn't have known what I was saying, but—"

"Actually, I think you made her cry. Maybe she could sense the hatefulness."

"Perhaps." Adellia brought her knees up to her chin, and she stared forward. "I am especially sorry to you. I did not deserve your worry during that period of time…I was cruel and harsh, and I am surprised you stuck around as long as you did. To me, that speaks volumes." She glanced down at him, nodding very seriously.

"Well…I knew something was wrong, I couldn't just…y'know, abandon post like that. And besides…hell, Adie, you know I…care for you, and…" he felt her lips on his, and he was thankful for that. He didn't feel like stuttering awkwardly though his true feelings. He knew she knew anyway.

When she pulled apart, he glanced up at her. "You should head to your station now. Those runny noses are just going to walk by themselves," he joked, and smirked on one side of his mouth. She hopped out of bed and walked out with one last wave goodbye, and Bones looked forward. Ooh, right…he was back to feeling happy again. He thought that would be gone forever, but now that he had Adie back…what was there to be pissed about anymore?

----

Kirk arrived on the bridge, looking worn beyond all reason. Nothing had changed—nothing could have changed. He and Spock exhausted hours trying to figure out a way to get out of this situation, but with absolutely no power, they had nothing. Kirk tried reasoning with the alien, but it only spoke when it wanted to speak, and never enjoyed listening very much. Which was probably the most frustrating part for Kirk, who had so much to say to him.

He plopped onto the captain's chair, and grumbled for a status report from everybody in the room. Everybody reported that their stations were offline, and he let out a loud sigh. "Has he attempted any kind of contact, Lieutenant Uhura?" he asked, drearily, but with still a little strength in his voice. He had to remain as strong as he could for this crew.

"No, sir," Uhura responded. "No contact attempted at all. I will let you know if—" she stopped when a transmition was coming in for them. "Well, that moment has come, captain. He is beginning a transmition," she mumbled, and sure enough, there was an icy sigh heard from above.

"May we help you?" Kirk asked, sarcastically.

"Why yes, you may help me," he or she replied, and chuckled a little bit. "I have just ended another attempted contact with Starfleet. They were still refusing to help you. I would blow up your ship, but I know how useless that will probably be. You'll lose too many."

"You're so kind…"

"Watch it, captain. I could always change my mind." It was obvious nobody believed him, which he didn't mind. He'd do what he wanted to do regardless of whatever anyone believed. "So I have decided to hook you and Starfleet up to plead with your case…yes, I know they don't technically negotiate with people like me, but perhaps if they caught a glimpse of how pathetic you sound, then perhaps they would reconsider. Turning on communications…now."

"Transmition has ended, sir, but we do have communications open," Uhura reported, and she looked up to him for an answer as to what to do next.

"Send Bones a message to meet me and Spock in the conference room so we can talk this over in private." Kirk knew very well he would be throwing a fit to Starfleet, so he didn't exactly need everybody listening in. "Make sure to ring him in Dr. Adellia's quarters. That man is lazy. Spock?" he said, and he got up, walking to the conference room to try and change an administration's policy. For the sake of just four hundred people.

----

Adellia smiled down at a young woman as she talked her through some hydrocortisone, explaining to her how to apply it and how often. In the back of her mind, Adellia wondered how she managed to pass through Starfleet academy and still manage to know nothing about cream, but…if this was what she was being trained for, then lovely. Just lovely.

Bones came up from behind her and nudged her playfully. The young woman stepped down, glancing at the cream curiously. "Guess what, Adie?" he said, excitedly.

"You managed to give Kirk an injection without forcing it upon him?" she asked in response, and grinned.

"Even better. Starfleet's coming…it'll be a pretty standard procedure of rescuing us and arresting that alien, so we shouldn't need to fill too many of the beds, but…we're finally getting out of here." He grinned, and put his hands on her shoulders, pecking her right there in the middle of everything.

"Leonard, I'm working…" she mumbled, but she smiled anyway. A green tint appeared on her cheeks, and she glanced down to her chart. "I am ecstatic, though. Then perhaps we can finish our mission and move onto the next one, hm?" Adellia wrote some notes, the prescription, and finally closed her file. "More runny noses await us there, I expect…"

"I'd rather treat runny noses than radiation poisoning, wouldn't you?"

"Not if it's you," she responded honestly. Adellia's lips turned upward into a smile before she turned away, and went back to work like she did normally every day.


End file.
